Memory cards are known in the art and contain intelligence in the form of a memory circuit or other electronic program. Some form of card reader reads the information or memory stored on the card. Such cards are used in many applications in today's electronic society, including video cameras, digital still cameras, smartphones, music players, ATMs, cable television decoders, toys, games, PC adapters, multi-media cards and other electronic applications. Typically, a memory card includes a contact or terminal array for connection through a card connector to a card reader system and then to external equipment. The connector readily accommodates insertion and removal of the card to provide quick access to the information and program on the card. The card connector includes terminals for yieldingly engaging the contact array of the memory card.
A typical memory card connector includes an insulating housing structure usually having a lateral terminal-mounting section across the rear of the connector. The contacts or terminals of the connector are mounted on this lateral section. The housing may have one or two legs projecting at right angles forwardly from one or both sides or ends of the lateral section. The insulating housing of such connectors typically is molded of dielectric plastic material into the desired shape. The terminals are stamped and formed of a sheet metal material having a high resiliency, such as phosphor bronze. The connector often is mounted on the top surface of a printed circuit board, and solder tail portions of the terminals are connected, as by a reflow soldering process, to appropriate circuit traces on the board.
FIG. 1 shows a memory card connector, generally designated 16, according to the prior art as described above and mounted on a printed circuit board 18. The connector includes a dielectric housing, generally designated 20, which includes a rear terminal-mounting section 22 and a pair of side wall sections 24 extending forwardly from opposite ends of the rear section to define a receiving space 26 for receiving a memory card 28 inserted thereinto in the direction of arrow “A”. The rear section 22 mounts a plurality of terminals 29 for engaging appropriate contacts on the memory card when inserted into the connector.
It can be seen that conventional memory card connectors as represented by the prior art connector in FIG. 1 have the capability of receiving only one size of memory card. If a different sized card is to be used, a completely different connector must be provided. This creates problems in manufacturing costs, multiple inventory expenses and, in fact, confusion in the field. There is a need for a memory card connector which can receive different sizes of memory cards, such as a conventional larger memory card as well as one or more reduced-size memory cards. The present invention is directed to solving these problems and satisfying the stated need.